The Dance
by Simmer2000
Summary: The kids find out that there will be a dance. Helga wants Arnold and Gerald wants Phoebe. Arnold wants Lila but she has eyes for somebody else!
1. The Reaction

Hey Arnold!  
  
The Dance - Part One  
  
Disclaimer: I own the plot of this story, but not the characters. I do not work on the show.  
  
"Attention, students," Principal Wartz said through the P.A. system. "The end of the school term is coming up and to reward the good results of the recent exams, you will get a dance in two weeks time! That is all."  
  
"Yay! A dance!" squealed Rhonda. "Another excuse for me to ask Daddy for a new dress!"  
  
"Oh no! A boring dance full of smooching!" groaned Harold.  
  
"I'll be chaperoning the Dance," said Mr. Simmons. "I'll be there to make sure that you all have a good time, in your own special way!"  
  
The bell rang and the class made their way onto the playground. "So, are you going to ask Lila to go to the dance with you?" Gerald asked Arnold.  
  
"Why would I do that?" asked Arnold.  
  
"Oh, come on, man. It's obvious that you still have a crush on her," said Gerald.  
  
"I don't think that I should," said Arnold.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because she said that she doesn't like me in that way! She won't want to go to the dance with me!"  
  
"She can only say no!"  
  
"Maybe I'll mention it to her. Are you going to ask anybody? Maybe Phoebe? I know that you like her!"  
  
"Well, maybe I'll mention it to her, too!"  
  
Helga and Phoebe were also talking to each other about the dance. "Great! A dance!" Helga said sarcastically. "Nobody is going to want to go with me."  
  
"So, you don't think that Arnold will want to take you to the dance?" asked Phoebe.  
  
"Arnold? Why would I care about Arnold?"  
  
"Because you have told me a lot of times that you have a crush on him!"  
  
"Yeah, well. We all know who he will want to go with him. Lila! I'm not going to the Dance. I'm not even going to try and get together with Arnold. You and Gerald have a good time together."  
  
"Gerald? I'm not going with Gerald!"  
  
"Yeah, but you want to. So ask him."  
  
"I don't know..."  
  
"I have to go and see somebody." Helga went to find Lila who was sitting alone on a bench. "Lila! Can I speak with you?" she asked.  
  
"Sure. What do you want?" Lila asked.  
  
"Remember when we did the play of Romeo and Juliet and I told you that I liked Arnold?" Helga asked.  
  
"Don't worry, Helga. I haven't told anybody." Lila reassured her.  
  
"I know. I think I can trust you with my secret." said Helga.  
  
"You can." said Lila.  
  
"Well, I think that Arnold may want to ask you to the Dance. I'm not going, but I want to know if you will go with him?" asked Helga.  
  
"I'm not. I don't like him in that way and if I go with him it will just make him get the wrong idea," said Lila.  
  
"So you're not taking him? Then, maybe I will go. So, who do you want to go with?" asked Helga.  
  
"Eugene." said Lila  
  
"You like him?" asked Helga.  
  
"Yeah. Mostly because..."  
  
The bell rang. Lila was the first to run inside. Helga tried to think of a way that she could go to the dance with Arnold. Later on, she thought of something and told Lila. "If Arnold tries to ask you to the dance, just say that you are waiting for somebody else to ask you and that you will get back to him. Don't get back to him until the day before the dance and then say that you are going with Eugene. All of the other girls will have dates and he will be forced to go with me!"  
  
"But I am not officially going with Eugene," said Lila.   
  
"Don't worry!" snapped Helga. "I'll make sure that you end up going with him"  
  
Stay tuned for Part Two of The Dance!  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. The Plan

Hey Arnold!  
  
The Dance - Part Two  
  
Disclaimer: I own the plot of this story, but not the characters. I do not work on the show.  
  
Now Helga needed to set Eugene and Lila up. Doing good turns was not Helga's strong point, especially for Lila, who Helga hated. But, at least there was something in it for her. She could end up dancing with Arnold at the dance!  
  
At the end of school, Arnold plucked up his courage and approached Lila. "Hey Lila!" he said.  
  
"Oh, hi Arnold," she replied.  
  
"I was wondering if you have anybody to go to the dance with?" he asked.  
  
"Are you asking me if I want to go with you?" Lila asked.  
  
"Well... yes," he said. "Will you?"  
  
Lila wanted to say "I'm ever so sorry, Arnold, but I'm afraid that I don't like you - like you. I just like you and so I think that it would be a bad idea for us to go together." But she couldn't say that. She had to do what Helga had said for her to do. "Well, at the moment I am waiting for somebody to get back to me," she said.  
  
"Oh... well forget about it then," said an upset Arnold.  
  
"But, if that person doesn't want to go with me, I will go with you!" said Lila.  
  
"Really?" asked Arnold. "Really?"  
  
"Yeah, but if that person asks me, you will have to find somebody else to go with," said Lila.  
  
"Okay," said Arnold. "I won't ask anybody else until you get back to me!"   
  
Arnold was very excited. He had a chance of going with Lila! Well, he thought that. Lila felt guilty about lying to Arnold, but she was helping out Helga, so that made her feel a little better.  
  
Meanwhile, Helga saw Eugene and went over to talk to him. "Hey! Eugene!" she said. "I want to speak to you about something!"  
  
"What, Helga?" he asked.  
  
"I know somebody who wants to go to the dance with you." she told him.  
  
"Really? Who is it?" he asked.  
  
"It's Lila. But she's too shy to tell you. She wanted me to ask you for her." she said.  
  
"Wow! I can't believe she likes me! After I had a crush on her for all that time!"  
  
"You had a crush on Lila?"  
  
"Yes! Please, Helga! Tell Lila that I will go with her!"  
  
"I will," said Helga. "But this is a secret between you, me and Lila. Don't tell anybody else that you are going with Lila. Especially not Arnold."  
  
"Okay!" said Eugene. "Why?"  
  
"Lila wants it to be a surprise for everybody! Don't let anybody know until the night of the dance!"  
  
"I won't."  
  
Eugene walked away. "Easy as pie!" said Helga.  
  
When Helga got home that night, she phoned Lila and told her everything that she had said to Eugene and that Eugene wanted to go with her. Helga made it clear for Lila not to tell anybody that she was going with Eugene and that they would all find out on the night.  
  
The next day at school, Mr. Simmons made the class be quiet while he announced something about the dance. "I have a message from Principal Wartz about the dance," he said. "Principal Wartz has decided to have the dance in school hours. This will make sure that everybody can go to the dance if they couldn't make it in the nighttime. He says that the hall will still look the same and you will not even be able to tell that it daytime. The dance will be tomorrow."   
  
"A dance in the daytime?" moaned Rhonda. "That is so uncool!"  
  
"No!" said Nadine. "It will be different! That makes it kind of cool!"  
  
"Okay, it's a little cool," said Rhonda.  
  
"Yes!" said Helga. Now her plan was even easier! Arnold could have decided not to go to the dance after Lila had said that she was going with somebody else, but now that the dance was in the daytime - Arnold would have to go!  
  
Will Helga end up with Arnold? Part Three is coming soon!  



	3. The Dance

Hey Arnold!  
  
The Dance - Part Three  
  
Disclaimer: I own the plot of this story, but not the characters. I do not work on the show.  
  
All through that day, Arnold kept on asking Lila if she would go with him. Lila stuck to one answer; "The guy who is getting back to me hasn't got back to me yet".  
  
Phoebe and Gerald accidentally bumped into each other in the playground at Recess. "I'm sorry!" said Gerald.  
  
"Oh, Gerald, it's okay," she said. "Is anybody going to the dance with you tomorrow?" she asked.  
  
"No!" said Gerald. "Well... not yet."  
  
"Well, I was kind of wondering if you would like to go with me. I mean... walk in with me. Then you can go and do whatever you want."  
  
"Well, we could stay together and dance together. I mean... it doesn't have to be a date or anything, does it? Just so we both don't end up going alone."  
  
"Of course!" said Phoebe. "So I will see you tomorrow morning!"  
  
"Okay," he said.  
  
Gerald went to tell Arnold. "She's going with me, man!" he said.  
  
"That's good," said Arnold.   
  
"Has Lila said yes to you yet?" asked Gerald.  
  
"No - she's leaving it late," said Arnold. "She keeps on saying that she's waiting for somebody else to reply to her."  
  
"The dance is tomorrow morning! You'll have to ask Lila to confirm soon, otherwise you may end up dancing by yourself!" said Gerald.  
  
"But Lila is the only girl who I really want to go with anyway," said Arnold.   
  
"It's your choice, man," said Gerald. "But you will be the loser of the dance if you're by yourself!"  
  
"Phoebe only said yes to you just now! You left it late, too, and you're still going with somebody!" said Arnold.  
  
"Whatever!" said Gerald.  
  
At the end of school that day, Arnold needed an answer from Lila. "Can you go with me tomorrow?" he asked her.  
  
"I'm still not sure, Arnold," she said.  
  
"Lila! I need to know!" he said. "If you end up going with somebody else, I will end up going with nobody!"  
  
"Wait until tomorrow," she said and started to walk home.  
  
"Women!" said Arnold.  
  
That night, Arnold tried to decide what he would wear. Should he wear a suit or something casual? What if he wore a suit and everybody else was wearing a shirt and jeans? And what if he wore casual clothes and everybody else wore suits?" He decided to phone Gerald and see what he was wearing. When Gerald answered, Arnold said, "Hey, Gerald! What are you going to wear tomorrow? I can't decide whether to wear casual clothes or a suit."  
  
"Just wear your best casual clothes!" he said. "That way, you still look sort of classy, but don't look like you are trying to hard!"  
  
"Okay, thanks!" he said. "See you tomorrow."  
  
"Bye, man!"  
  
Arnold put down the phone. He found his clothes for the next day and then went to bed.  
  
Helga had picked out a pink dress for the next day. Who cared if the other kids laughed at her because she didn't usually dress that way? This was her chance to impress Arnold. She couldn't wait.  
  
The next morning, all of the kids got to school in their best clothes. They had to go to class first to get marked in. "Hello class!" said Mr. Simmons. "Let me just tell you that you all look great! Very special! The dance will start in about fifteen minutes, so until then, talk amongst yourselves!"  
  
Arnold went over to Lila. "So, are we going together?" he asked.  
  
"No," said Lila. "The guy who I was going to go with decided that he wanted to go with me. I'm sorry, Arnold. Maybe we could go together next time or something?"  
  
Arnold was heartbroken, but he put on a brave face. "That's okay," he said. "So, who are you going with?"   
  
"I'm going with Eugene!" she said.  
  
"Oh," said Arnold. "Well, have a nice time." He went back to his seat.   
  
"What did she say?" asked Gerald.  
  
"She's going with Eugene," said Arnold.  
  
"I'm sorry," said Gerald.   
  
"It's okay," said Arnold. "I'll just sit the dance out."  
  
Helga and Phoebe were also talking. "You never told me if you are going with Gerald!" Helga said to Phoebe.  
  
"I am!" said Phoebe. "We were both kind of nervous, so we said that we would walk in together, but I have a feeling that we will be spending the whole dance together!"  
  
"I'm happy for you," said Helga.   
  
"Did the thing with you and Arnold work out?" asked Phoebe.  
  
"Well, by the look of Arnold's face right now, it looks like my plan worked perfectly!" she said. "Arnold was chasing after Lila for so long that he didn't have any time to ask anybody else to the dance. Now he'll have to ask me to dance with him!"  
  
"So are you going to make the first move?" asked Phoebe.  
  
"I don't know," said Helga. "I'll just do what I have to do when I get in there."  
  
"Attention, class!" said Mr. Simmons. "It's now time for you to go into the hall for the dance! I hope that you all have a lovely time!"  
  
The class walked into the hall. Most were in their couples. Gerald and Phoebe joined up. So did Eugene and Lila. Arnold and Helga were the only ones without dates. The hall was packed with people. The older kids were kissing. Phoebe secretly hoped that she would kiss Gerald by the end of the night.  
  
Most students went straight in and started to dance, except Arnold and Helga. Arnold and Helga both went and sat down and sat down in chairs which were lined up at the sides of the hall. Helga looked nervously at Arnold. She really wanted to go up to him and say, "Listen Football Head! There's no point in us both sitting here alone with everybody looking at us like we are freaks who can't get dates - so let's dance!" But Helga couldn't! She had imagined just asking Arnold and him hugging her, but this was real life and she was really nervous.   
  
For the first two songs, they just stayed sitting down. Gerald and Phoebe were having a really good time. They were both excellent dancers and were both hoping for a kiss at the end of it all. Lila and Eugene were also having a good time. Apart from Eugene constantly falling over and hitting the drinks stand, they were great together.   
  
For another half and hour, Arnold was feeling sorry for himself. He looked at all the happy couples having a good time. "I'm the only one alone," he thought to himself. But then he turned his head and saw Helga. She had got really dressed up and had tried hard and she was sitting alone on a chair in the corner. Arnold felt really sorry for Helga. "She doesn't deserve to be sitting alone any more than I do!" he thought.   
  
Arnold got up and walked towards Helga. "Helga!" he said. "It looks like we're both sitting here alone and it's pointless. We should just both dance today. We don't ever have to mention it again, and we should just ignore everybody else!"  
  
"You really think that?" asked Helga.  
  
"Yes!" said Arnold.  
  
"Then, I suppose that we should both just dance together, then!" she said. They got up onto the dance floor and both started to dance together. It was the happiest moment in Helga's life.   
  
The dance went on for hours. "This will be the last song!" said the DJ. "So, at the end, give the person who you have been dancing with a kiss!"  
  
At the end of the dance Gerald's lips moved closer towards Phoebe's. He kissed her. Eugene and Lila also kissed. In fact, every couple in the hall did. Apart from Helga and Arnold. "What should I do?" thought Arnold. "We're not really a couple, but Helga is a girl too, wouldn't she want a kiss?"   
  
"Is he going to kiss me or what?" Helga thought.   
  
Arnold decided to go for it. He kissed Helga. THAT was the happiest moment of Helga's life. But, when the kiss was over, she remembered that just accepting the kiss was not like her. She had to act like herself. "Arnold, can I speak to you outside?" she asked. "I don't want to cause a scene."  
  
They walked outside so that nobody could hear them. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING FOOTBALL HEAD?" she screamed. "NEVER COME NEAR ME AGAIN!"  
  
"Sorry, Helga," he said. "Well, the dance is over, so I'm going to go for lunch."  
  
"Just make sure that you never, ever get the wrong idea about us!" she shouted. "I danced with you today because I was desperate! And if those lips ever come near me again, I will chop them off!"  
  
"Okay, Helga," he said.   
  
But what happened with Gerald and Phoebe? And Eugene and Helga? Make up your own minds, readers! And maybe some day, I will write a sequel!  



	4. The Consequences

Hey Arnold!  
  
The Dance - Part Four (Conclusion)  
  
Disclaimer: I own the plot of this story, but not the characters. I do not work on the show.  
  
It was the day after the dance. The kids had been able to go straight home after lunch on the day of the dance. That meant that Arnold and Helga didn't see each other again after the kiss. Neither did Gerald and Phoebe or Lila and Eugene.  
  
In the morning, Arnold decided that it was time for him to resolve things with Helga. He found her in the school playground and told Helga that he wanted to talk with her.  
  
"What do you want Football Head?" she snapped.  
  
"I just wanted to apologise for my behaviour at the end of the dance, yesterday," he told her. "It was so stupid of me. I just did it because everybody else in the whole room did it and I thought that you might want to do it too."  
  
"Yeah well, this just in Football Head, I'm not the kind of girl who likes kissing," she said.  
  
"I know. I didn't do it because I have romantic feelings for you, or anything like that."  
  
"Then why did you kiss me?" asked a confused Helga.  
  
"Because I thought that you didn't want to be the odd one out. Everybody else in the whole room kissed. We were standing right in the middle of the room. Everybody could see us. They were looking to see if we would kiss. I just felt pressure and I did it. I'm really sorry."  
  
"So, you don't have feelings for me romantically?" she asked him.  
  
"No, not at all," he said.   
  
Helga was crushed. She could feel tears forming in her eyes. She didn't want Arnold to see her crying. She had to get away from Arnold.  
  
"I have to go now," she said.  
  
"So, is everything cool between us?" he asked.  
  
Helga tried to stop the tears from coming and said, "No it's not cool! Do you know how much I had to wash my lips last night! Do me a favour, Football Head and never speak to me again!"  
  
The bell rang and Helga ran inside. She went straight to the bathroom to cry.  
  
Later on, when Phoebe and Gerald got a moment together, they had a talk about their feelings for each other. "So, after the kiss that we had yesterday, where are we going to go from here?" he asked.  
  
At that moment, Phoebe got really nervous. She felt really nervous that if she told Gerald how she really felt for him that he would reject her. She couldn't think of anything else to say except "I think that we should take it slowly," even though it wasn't how she really felt.  
  
"Okay," he said. "Then, we will. I guess that there will be no pressure. We're only nine years old."  
  
Gerald walked away from Phoebe. "Oh, why did I say that?" she asked herself. "Why?"  
  
"She might as well have said that we shouldn't go out together at all!" Gerald said to Arnold later on that day. "She wants us to take it slowly! That means that she the kiss was a mistake and that she doesn't like me!"  
  
"Oh, come on, Gerald. She didn't say that!" Arnold reassured him. "She just doesn't want any pressure, that's all!"  
  
"She doesn't want a relationship at all!" he moaned.  
  
"Why did I say that?" Why did I say that?" Phoebe asked Helga at lunch. "I don't want to take it slowly! I want to be Gerald's girlfriend!"  
  
"Yeah, well, at least you're in some sort of a relationship. I've ruined all of my chances with Arnold!" she said.  
  
"Why? What did you say to him?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"I said that I didn't want him to ever speak to me again," she said.  
  
"You're going to have to stop that act soon, Helga. Tell him how you really feel, instead of hiding behind your bossy side." advised Phoebe.  
  
"You did the exact same thing with Gerald!" Helga said. "You didn't tell him your real feelings!"  
  
"Yeah, well, maybe I'll just go and fix that!" said Phoebe.  
  
Phoebe built up all of her courage and went over to Gerald. He was sitting at a table with Arnold. "Gerald," she said to him.   
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"I don't want to take it slowly," she said. "I want a proper relationship with you."  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Gerald.  
  
"Yeah. I'm sure," she said. "I love you." They smiled at each other.  
  
After seeing Phoebe fix things with Gerald, Helga had to do the same with Arnold. She asked him for a private word. They went outside. "Arnold, I don't want you to stop talking to me," she said.  
  
"Really?" he asked.  
  
"I want us... to be friends," she said.  
  
"That's all that I have ever wanted," Arnold said.  
  
"Good," she said. "But, don't be too offended if I still call you Football Head." Arnold smiled.  
  
"Okay, I'll try," he laughed.  
  
Helga went back to Phoebe. "You know all of those conversations that I had with you about me liking Arnold?" she asked.   
  
"Yeah," said Phoebe.  
  
"They never happened."  
  
"Okay! Forgetting!"  
  
And as for Eugene and Lila, they really did take it slowly. They didn't know if they were right for each other. Only time would tell.  
  
My next Hey Arnold fan fic! Coming soon: Oskar, the Millionaire!  



End file.
